Was It Worth It?
by Kira Kyuu
Summary: So, Owen meets a strange girl outside of Torchwood named Jaq. Things escalate as Owen, Tosh, Ianto, and Jack decide her guardians aren't fit. Then Gwen Cooper recognizes Jaq as Jonquille Potter. Oh, dear.


_A/N: Okay. . . Ah. . . I don't know where, exactly, this came from. It is perfectly fine as a oneshot, though it might be continued at a later date. . . Please note the 'might'. This wasn't one of the options I gave in the poll on my profile, and for that, I'm sorry. I've gone back and added both Doctor Who and Torchwood into said poll. And has anyone noticed when 'then' sounds like 'then' it's almost always than, and vice versa? It's too confusing for me, so I'm ignoring the word 'than' altogether._

_Warnings: Mentions of child abuse, cursing/cussing/bad words, OOCness, etc_

_**Suggested song: Sail by Awolnation**_

_Let's start the story, then, shall we?_

– Cardiff, Wales – 2nd of May – The Hub –

"Wait a second, did that just happen . . . ?" Toshiko 'Tosh' Sato muttered to herself, rewinding the CCTV. It was nearly ten at night, now, and only Owen and herself were still in the Hub.

"Did what just happen?" Owen Harper asked, dropping his lab coat onto the small couch and moving up to look at the screen.

"That girl, there?" Tosh replied, pointing at a small girl in front of the invisible lift, "She was – well, has been – wandering around the lift a lot. Then this family –" Tosh pointed out a group of four, two obese males, a stick thin woman, and an obese woman. "– Came up to her. The adult male starts to yell. . ." The Japanese woman trailed off as said man struck the much smaller girl, send her crashing onto the ground. . . right where the lift was, actually.

"And he just storms off, with his family? Never mind that the girl just _vanished_?" Owen asked incredulously, very Not Happy with how the girl was treated. Toshiko gave him a Look, and he nodded, grabbed his jacket, and dashed out of the Tourist entrance. A minute later, the woman saw him cautiously approach the lift.

-Outside with the girl and Owen-

He slowly walked toward the lift area, forcing himself to see past the invisibility. The girl looked young, maybe fourteen, fifteen at the most.

"You alright?" he asked, startling the girl. She looked up at him with the brightest unearthly green eyes he had ever seen. There was also a rapidly worsening bruise on the left side of her face.

"'M fine, sir," she finally said after swallowing thickly. Owen held out his hand, a small – and hopefully gentle – smile on his face, "C'mon. Let's go get some ice, 'ey?" Those eyes were unnerving as hell, but he didn't let it show. Eventually, the girl nodded, and he started to lead her to one of the few still-open stores that had ice – the pizza parlor.

"My name's Owen," he said after realizing he hadn't introduced himself. She shot him a slightly amused grin.

"I'm. . . Jaq. You don't have to help me, sir," she stated quietly, her grin fading. "Don't have to, no. But I want to. I don't like it when cute girls get hurt. And it's just Owen, I'm not a 'sir'," he replied, shooting her a wide grin of his own. "Yes, si- Ah, Owen," Jaq murmured, letting her hair fall over the bruise.

"How long have you been in Cardiff?" the Torchwood agent asked, "I haven't seen you around before."

"Since the beginning of summer," Jaq explained, "We're only visiting Aunt Marge. Uncle wasn't too happy that I ran off before breakfast, though." Owen gave a soft 'oh', then opened the door to their pizza place, shooting the man behind the counter a grin.

"Can I beg a bag of ice off you? My sister fell and hit her head." The man's eyes widened and he cooed over how adorable Jaq was, then finally gave the pair a bag of ice. "Thank you, sir." That caused the man to nearly explode, exalting her 'kyootness'. It was, quite frankly, a little disturbing.

Once they got back outside, Jaq shot Owen a look. "What?" he asked. She merely shook her head, letting a small chuckle slip past her lips.

"Isn't she a little young for you, Owen?" a voice called, making both of them pause. "Cute as she is, she's only fifteen, Captain," Owen retorted, turning to face Captain Jack Harkness.

"'M nearly seventeen, Owen," Jaq nearly whined. "Really? You look younger," the men chimed, shooting each other a look when they realized they had said it together.

"What's your name?" the Captain asked, eyeing her closely, taking in the submissive posture of the girl. "Jaq, sir. Thank you again for the assistance, Owen, but I need to leave." Before either man could protest, Jaq had scurried off, ignoring Owen's calls.

Air exploded out of the younger man's lungs. "Thanks, boss, you scared her away. _Damn_ it!"

The Captain frowned in confusion, not understanding. "What's got you so worked up?" he demanded defensively. Owen grunted, then gestured for his boss to follow him.

Once inside the Hub, Toshiko didn't even wait for Owen to ask. "Jonquille Rose Potter, age sixteen. Blood type is O negative. Born 31 July, 1989. Parents," Toshiko paused, a sad look crossing her face briefly, "Father, James Ignotus Potter, deceased 31 October, 1990. Mother, Lily Freya Potter nee Evans, deceased 31 October, 1990. Currently resides with Petunia Jonquille Dursley, Vernon Gerald Dursley, and their son Dudley Gerald Dursley at Number Four Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey. . ."

Tosh once again trailed off, frowning at her screen. "What?" Owen asked, sighing in irritation. "She's been in an online university program since she turned ten," the woman explained slowly, "Focusing on 'theoretical temporal mechanics' and the reality of a 'Gaea'. Currently, she's a consultant for UNIT and also in a non-existent boarding school somewhere in Scotland for nine months of the year."

"What do you mean, non-existent boarding school?" Jack asked, scowling slightly. "Listed as Hogwarts School, but there's no information anywhere on the internet."

"Anything else?" Owen asked, deciding to think on all of _that_ later. "Everything else seems to be recorded on paper at Gringotts Security. Her paternal family seems to own quite a bit of the shares in that company," Toshiko admitted, pulling a face at the idea of paperwork.

"Why exactly are you two so interested in this girl?" Jack demanded, not liking them ignoring him. In reply, Toshiko pulled up the video feed that had caught her attention. "Oh."

Owen rolled his eyes, "Yeah, 'oh'." "Why the hell didn't you just _say_ so?" Jack asked, "Does she have any living relatives, besides the ones she's with now?" "I'll make some calls, find out," Tosh replied, giving the pair of men a grin.

–The Next Day, Afternoon–

Tosh called together the men in Torchwood Three, wordlessly handing a paper to Ianto Jones. The jade-eyed man frowned slightly at the heavy feel of the paper, at the seal on it, then finally opened it. A few minutes later, eyes wide, he asked her why she had this.

"Well. . . Jonquille sort of met Owen under not-so great circumstances. I was looking for family for her, and you came up," Tosh admitted nervously.

"How do you mean, 'met under not-so great circumstances'?" Ianto asked, a sort of cold tone in his voice as he glanced at the man in question. Instead of answering, Toshiko played the entire video that she had collected last night, including up to the point where Jack met up with Owen and Jaq.

Every emotion vanished from Ianto's face, leaving ice cold jade eyes. "Where, exactly, is she now?"

–Two Days Later–

Jaq, as she had called herself when she had met the nice man three days ago, carefully cradled her left arm in the folds of her cousin's old large maroon sweater. She was glad it was large enough to form a sling with the folds. The shrill doorbell went off, setting off Marge's mutts. As soon as she made sure no injuries were visible, she answered the door.

Owen, his Captain, and a somewhat familiar man stood there. _Damn_, she thought, wincing slightly at the prospective pain that would probably occur at the expense of the visit. "I apologize, but the family is eating. Can you leave a missive or a card?" she asked, her manners impeccable and calm. The Captain sniffed and she suddenly wondered if he could smell blood. Some people couldn't, but she wouldn't be surprised if this one could.

"May we come in, please, miss?" the new man asked, similar to how she had to act, "I wish to speak with Mr. and Mrs. Dursley. It is quite urgent."

_This probably doesn't have to do with me. . . _Jaq thought, but didn't believe it. _Not everything is about you_, she scolded herself. "Very well, sir. Please wait here."

Vernon Dursley stormed angrily to the door, the little Freak trailing along behind him like she should be. He pulled open the door, uncaring that his face was a disgusting puce colour. "What could _possibly_ be so _bloody_ important that you had to interrupt our supper?" he snarled menacingly, beady eyes glaring solidly at the trio of men.

"May we come in, sir?" said the one that looked a bit like the freak, "It will be worth it, I assure you." _Salesmen_, Vernon scoffed internally, "We're not buying any-"

The one with blue eyes broke in. "It's about the guardianship of one Jonquille Potter, Dursley." The obese man's beady eyes narrowed further at them, then he finally decided to let them in. If it would get rid of the freak earlier, he was willing to listen.

"Miss Potter, if you will join us?" Ianto asked the girl, who had been turtling into her sweater apprehensively. She did join them in the living room.

Jaq wasn't quite sure what happened, completely, but the trio had somehow gotten both of the Dursleys to sign her over to Ianto Jones, who was her maternal grandfather's first wife's son. . . or something like that. It gave her a headache, almost, trying to piece family relationships together.

Nonetheless, the near-seventeen year old found herself in an underground facility, a somewhat familiar honeycombed 'T' being an indicator of who had her. "Are you really my relative?" Jaq asked the jade-eyed man suspiciously.

"He is. I'm Toshiko Sato, by the way," a Japanese woman said, smiling at the girl in sympathy.

"Why did you bring me here, then?" she asked, after nodding politely at Miss Sato.

"Well, you already work a bit for UNIT, so I figured it wouldn't be too shocking to bring you here. Safest place I know," Owen's Captain explained, "I'm Captain Jack Harkness, by the way."

She blinked at him, feline-like eyes narrowed slightly. "You're the kind of man that flirts with a 'hello', aren't you?" Jaq half asked, earning snorts of amusement. "Not as much as I used to," he replied with a wink, then turned serious. "If you don't mind, I'd like you to be checked over by Harper and Toshiko." Reluctantly, the girl nodded.

Seventy-five stitches, two rolls of bandages, an ace wrap, and a few bits of gauze later, Jaq sat on the sofa in the Hub area of Torchwood Three, clad in a pair of green shorts and a green and yellow tank top. "What's the verdict?" Jack asked, scanning the injured girl.

"Three cracked ribs, one broken rib, mild concussion, sprained wrist – same wrist that got torn open by a bloody _dog_, by the way – and quite a bit of blunt force trauma. Allergic to aspirin, too," Owen growled in displeasure. Jaq swept her hand through her hair, looking at the ground. She honestly didn't think that it was that bad, but she was used to the abuse.

"There are also a few oddities," Toshiko piped up, "Her core body temperature is at 31.64 Celsius, heart rate identical to a healthy male jogging. Her blood work and metabolism need to be reviewed."

"Are you implying that she isn't Human?" Ianto asked, a cold tone entering his voice as he stared at the two. "Not. . . exactly," Owen said uncertainly, "She looks Human, has Human blood, proper organs, far as I can tell. So, mostly Human, with a bit of exotic from a generation or two ago." "In fact, the only oddity that isn't internal is the scarring on the back of her left hand." Jaq hid said hand, shrugging slightly. She didn't want to explain it at all.

Over the following two months that Jaq stayed with them at Torchwood, they grew used to her odd behavior. She would more often then not help Ianto with his duties and took turns helping Toshiko and Owen, when they needed it. She wasn't allowed out onto the field, despite the apparent fondness anachronistic creatures had for her, Myfanwy the pterodactyl being one of them. Suzie Costello, by contrast, was oddly avoided. As to her biological oddities, they were found inconclusive. They didn't know what alien she could have descended from.

However, once those two months were up, and after they celebrated her seventeenth birthday, Jaq vanished. There was a note left, of course, stating that she would be back if everything went well. If not, well, she would miss all of them. At the time of her death, they would be informed.

"So, she prances off to do something that could kill her?" Owen snarled angrily, "Why didn't she ask for help?" Ironically, the two of them had actually become something similar to brother and sister.

"Well, let's go find her, then," Jack replied, his blue eyes narrowed. _I'm not going to lose anyone else._

–14th of April, 2007–

Nine months passed without a word from Jonquille. Then, just after Gwen Cooper was recruited, Tosh yelped in shock. Three people were instantly crowded around her workspace, staring at the screen. The CCTV had a little note taped to it, bearing two words: I'M BACK. "Ianto –" Jack started, but said man interrupted him, "Already on it, sir."

"What's going on?" Gwen Cooper asked in confusion, but no one answered. They were too busy bustling around the Hub to straighten things up. Even Jack was attempting to arrange his office into something resembling order.

"Oi! I _told_ you she had a good reason for avoiding her!" Owen suddenly shouted, looking at the Captain, who in turn shot a half-hearted scowl at the doctor.

As if in reply to Gwen's growing confusion, Ianto and a woman – a girl, really, maybe sixteen years old – with black hair and bright-bright green eyes that were streaked with silver, came into the Hub. "Jackie!" Jack exclaimed, running to the girl and sweeping her up into a spinning hug.

"Hey, sweetie, how are you?" Tosh asked once Jack had set 'Jackie' down. "Yeah, what happened after you vanished?" Owen added.

The girl's eyes flickered darkly for a moment, but she offered up a bright smile. "I'm fine. I just had to take care of something, and it's finished now. I promise I won't run off again." Those unearthly green eyes fell onto Gwen, making the PC think, with a shiver of apprehension, _What's wrong with her?_

"I see you finally replaced Miss Costello, Captain Jack," the girl said approvingly, then switched to a teasing tone, "Haven't you told her about me? I'm _wounded_, sir!"

"Right!" Owen chimed up before anyone else did, "Jonny, this is Gwen Cooper, new girl, ex-police-constable. New girl, this is Jaq."

"She's just a little girl. Why is she here?" Gwen asked, her morals screaming that a child shouldn't have to go through this sort of thing.

"I've seen things that would make you sick, Miss Cooper, things that would send you running and having nightmares for years," Jaq stated in a cold and polite manner. Gwen couldn't doubt her, with eyes like that, but kept her mint green eyes on the others, trusting their opinions.

"She stays with Tosh, being a technician and – nurse, now, right?" Jack directed the last bit at the girl. "I completed my training for that nearly eight months ago," Jaq affirmed.

Afterwards, when the group had dispersed, Ianto and Jack stealing the girl away to talk, Gwen asked how they kept Jaq and Jack separate. She learned that Jaq was supposed to sound something like 'Zack' and that Jack had dibs on Jackie while only Owen was allowed to call her Jonny, and Ianto tended to call her Jon. She also learned that Jaq fully intended to stay with Torchwood Three, Tosh saying that the girl claimed they needed all the help they could get.

–Post S1E3–

Gwen finally managed to corner the girl, Jaq, and unleashed a barrage of questions, wanting to know who Jaq was, how she was 'recruited', why she was so dark, _why_ her instincts yelled at her to be so damn afraid of the slip of a woman, no matter how hard she tried to reason that fear away.

Jaq studied the scared woman. She had noticed, earlier, before coming back to Cardiff, that people who didn't know death unconsciously feared her, tried to stay away from her. In crowds, so many would part easily around her. However, at Torchwood, most everyone was familiar with Death. Even Toshiko, who had the least experience of all of the team. Soon, Gwen's fear of her would vanish, since she had unwittingly killed Ed Morgan.

Jonquille considered what to tell Miss Cooper, what would be enough to satisfy the naïve woman. "My name is Jonquille Potter," she finally stated, "And the darkness has always been a part of me. It just. . . grew, with time." A shark-like grin crossed the younger woman's face as she left Gwen, the woman trying to remember where she had heard that name before.

It came to Gwen as she walked with Jack in search of Ianto the next day. "Holy shit," the woman hissed in shock.

"What? What is it?" Jack demanded, glancing back at her.

"I just – Well – Ah, it's something for later. I . . . remembered something important," Gwen offered, her voice and a small smile wavering uncertainly.

"Yes, being distracted now could turn out bad, miss," Jaq whispered through the comms, making the woman flinch, then force herself to pay attention.

"You are being _stubborn_," Jack snapped at Jaq as they circled the Cyberwoman, Lisa, Ianto's girlfriend. "Not just me being so, jackass," the girl snapped in return.

Both of them paused at what had slipped out of her mouth. "Did you just - ?" the captain started, incredulity obvious on his face.

Jaq picked up a sharp stake of metal and rammed it into Lisa's back. "It's a bit of a defense mechanism, sir," Jaq replied, hopping away from the Cyberwoman and had to slither up a chain. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Jack let a guffaw slip past his lips.

"So _inappropriate_, Jackie!" Jack teased, dodging Lisa's hand.

"Least she isn't fully armed or converted, hm?" Jaq sighed, planting her feet on the rail of the metal staircase. They were looking at each other, and had missed Lisa approaching the chain and rail until it was too late. Jack yelled incoherently as the Cyberwoman latched onto the young woman's ankle, sending deadly volts through her vulnerable body. Jaq slumped onto the staircase lifelessly.

Twenty seconds later, when the Cyberwoman reached to try and end his life, something wrapped around Lisa's throat, a chain, and pulled her back hard enough to make her stumble. When Jack got a clear view of who had done that, he swore his heart stopped a moment. There, stood Jaq, her skin glowing a gentle silver, silver mist spilling from her lips and her eyes more silver then green.

"All that did, Miss Lisa, was piss. Me. _Off_," Jaq snarled lowly, more of the mist spilling from her lips, thrumming angrily with a power Jack had never felt before.

The Cyberwoman was visibly confused at the sight of a target she had been sure was dead. "Jackie?" the Captain hesitantly asked. _What's going on?_

The teen's eyes met his, "Jack." _Trust me_. "We'll need weapons," he half said.

The silver in her eyes darkened dangerously, a grim smirk lifting her lips. "Not when I'm like this, sir," she said calmly, turning back to Lisa. In a blur of movement, Jaq shoved her hand roughly against the exposed abdomen of the Cyberwoman, causing her to fold like paper and fall into an unmoving heap. Her skin grayed slightly, almost as if the blood had been drained out of her.

Jonquille, on the other hand, managed to fall into a sitting position on the stairs, a relieved smile on her face. Jack picked her up, despite her protests, and kept her in his lap. He did not like that she had, for all intents and purposes, died. He said as much to her, drawing a self-deprecating chuckle.

"It's happened a few times, before," she whispered quietly, "I don't think I would wish this unending sort of life upon anyone."

Hurried footsteps, then the rest of the team came back, watching the three unmoving – except for Jack gently, unconsciously, rocking Jaq a bit – people. "Are you two alright?" Tosh called, not wanting to get too close to Lisa, dead or not.

"Yeah, we're fine," Jack replied, but didn't explain how Lisa had been killed.

"Is she – Is Lisa dead?" Ianto asked in a quavering voice, his eyes filling with unshed tears. Owen was going to snap at him, but Jaq spoke up first. "'Fraid so, Yan. I. . . You know she loved you, right?" she asked gently, propping herself up against Jack better. Ianto nodded morosely.

"Think about Cyberman programming, how it eliminates emotions forcibly. It _forced _her to do this," Jaq offered, thinking of her own experiences with mind control, "She –"

"How would _you_ know?" Ianto snapped angrily, his face contorting in rage, "I _loved_ her!"

"You think you're the only one who ever loved someone? At least you didn't have to kill her! I –" Jaq cut herself off, taking a calming breath, then restarted.

"There was a boy, when I was gone. I'd met him when I was fourteen, fell in _love_," she spat the word out as if it were a curse, "We spoke a lot, exchanged letters when he had to go back to his own school. While I was gone, guess what happened?" A short pause. Jaq let a small, bitter chuckle leave her lips. "He didn't love me. He had no mind control, no _excuse_, but he tried to kill me. Instead, I got to kill _him_. My opinion? Be so very grateful that you didn't have to kill her, and that we stopped her from doing something she would regret, like killing you or – _I don't know_ – and innocent, maybe?" At the end of her tirade, she worked herself loose of Jack.

"Grow up, Yan. Everything has its time, as you know. Accept that it was hers long ago." Before anyone could rouse themselves from their shock, the teen had stalked off, leaving all of them wondering, _What the hell had happened to Jaq?_

Owen voiced the question,hoping one of them had the answer. "A war," Gwen stated, tears slipping from her eyes. She couldn't imagine having to kill someone you loved, or even having a betrayal like that.

"A war? Did we miss a war?" Owen asked Jack sarcastically. "You wouldn't know about it!" Gwen snapped defensively, "Almost no one does!"

"Why not?" Jack asked, calm, but his chest hurting. He had been closest to Jaq, he had so clearly heard her pain at the betrayal her love had caused. "I'll not tell her secrets. You'll have to ask her," Gwen nearly bit out, ignoring Owen's mutter of 'A bit late for _that_.' "Ask her. I wouldn't be able to tell it proper, anyhow," the ex-PC reaffirmed stubbornly.

–During S1E5–

Two days later, Jack convinced Jaq to come with him to the Fairy lecture being given by Estelle Cole. The teen was surprisingly interested in the lecture, not giving any derisive side comments or even a derisive snort. "Do you believe in fairies?" Jack asked quietly.

Green eyes met his blue ones. "I believe in Pixies. Shape-shifting from innocuous to demonic forms, kills in a flair for punishments. We should be careful, especially if they're _Welsh_ Pixies," she replied, completely serious and completely honest.

"What's the difference between Welsh Pixies and, say, French ones?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowed in thought. "Welsh ones prolong the death, play with the victim. The French ones tend only to kill if a kid's been killed, Chosen or not." All he could say in reply was 'oh'. Of course, he did end up asking how she knew that, being a little suspicious.

"Family lore," she explained, again honest, "By contrast, Cornish Pixies don't even kill, just being trouble makers. They're also a bout the size of my hand, and blue. Welsh, however, their 'bad' form is a bit bigger then you, mottled green, bulbous eyes, and insectoid wings. A bit like Golem from the Lord of the Rings, but as I described," she explained almost cheerfully, "The Lower Britannia Pixies were so very nice in trying to convince me to leave with them." Jack didn't get a chance to ask_ why_ she hadn't taken the chance to get away from her relatives.

The next day, they tracked the Welsh Pixies' – _that_ had been fun to explain – Chosen to a little girl called Jasmine. They came a little late, though, and the girl was nearly in the Pixies' grasp. Jack started to argue with them, but Jaq cut him off.

"Does she realize, completely and fully, that she will _never_ get to speak to her own mother ever again?" she demanded, not bothering to raise her voice. She never did to her enemies.

"I _know_. I want to _play_, with them, forever," Jasmine piped up, matter-of-factly. Jaq glanced briefly at Jack, then turned to face the others. "There is no way to dissuade a Welsh Pixie from their Chosen unless said Chosen refuses. Jasmine won't refuse," she finally said.

The Pixies tittered joyfully. "Clever Master, clever child of Mother," they cooed gleefully.

"We have to at least _try_!" Gwen nearly shouted, glaring at Jaq angrily, "She's just a child, she doesn't know any better!"

Jonquille let an annoyed sigh explode from her lips, then reschooled her features. "Welsh Pixies have extreme elemental powers, Miss Cooper. Hundreds, thousands, even millions of people could die before they get what they want anyway," she explained, her voice even, but slow, as if she were explaining to a child, "And have you not noticed her thinness? The yellow of her eyes? Sick. Maybe organ failure. Paleness, flushed cheeks, quiet voice, it could even be tuberculosis."

Jasmine tilted her head at the strange woman, wondering how she had known. She didn't ask, though. The other adults, they hadn't noticed. Then the man holding her spoke up. "How about this, Cooper: You choose. This child, who is dying. . . Or one hundred families, including children, parents, grandparents, pets. . ." Jasmine saw the woman's – Cooper's – eyes widen. "I – I . . ." Cooper stuttered, obviously struggling to answer the proposal.

"The thing most people don't realize," Jaq spoke up, calmly, but very pointedly, "Someone has to make the hard decisions. You can't always make a 'good' decision. . . Sometimes all you can do is make a 'less bad' choice. The so-called lesser of two evils." _She makes a very good teacher_, Jack mused to himself, slowly letting Jasmine go. He didn't exactly _want_ to, but it was exactly like what Jaq had said.

After Jack ordered canine search parties – despite knowing they would find nothing – and they all got back to the Hub, it was decided, without any sort of discussion between all of them, that they would seek Jaq's story now.

"Gwen mentioned you were in some kind of war," Owen started off, shifting uncertainly. "I was," Jaq allowed easily.

"Can you tell us?" Gwen almost demanded.

"Trust me, you _don't_ want to know." The tone of voice reminded Jack of the Doctor, and he felt a sudden thrill of fear and worry. If she had been through something even remotely similar to what the Doctor had been through. . . He didn't even want to _think_ about it.

"Yes, we do. We want to help you, honey," Tosh said, putting a gentle hand on the young woman's shoulder. A huff left Jaq's lips when she found that they all were in accordance on this matter.

"You want to explain my kind, Gwen Cooper?" she asked grumpily.

"I only know the gist. . . Rhys has none, but is from a family of them," the ex-PC explained quietly. Jaq let out another huff.

"The simplest term for my kind would be 'mage'," she told them blandly, "We are able to use ambient and internal energy to create, destroy, heal, et cetera. There are also the mage-kin, the so called 'magical' creatures and beings. Pixies are one of them, hence why they called me a child of the Mother, meaning Gaea, who made us all." She paused to let them ask questions.

"You're a mage? Like, a witch? Wand waving, broom flying, cauldron brewing witch?" Owen demanded incredulously.

"Yep," Jaq replied, popping the 'p'. "British sector has a tendency to call the males Wizards and the females Witches. Sort of annoying and sexist."

"Wouldn't someone have noticed? Told the whole world, I mean?" Tosh asked, confused as to how a whole society could have hidden themselves.

The teen nodded slightly. "They have. Major country rulers are usually told, like the Prime Minister. Now, though, there will be less then one mage to a thousand Humans. A lot less," she explained softly. "What? Why?"

"First, let's start. . . with World War One. Started by a Dark Lord, angry with the fact that there were so many alliances between the non-mage kind. His name was Viktor Gaunt. His sister gave rise to the next Dark Lord, Gellert Grindelwald, who worked with Hitler in World War Two. Can you guess what came next?" Jaq asked, raising an eyebrow at all of them.

_How close had we been to an early World War Three?_ Jack wondered, sucking in a breath as he realized what could have happened.

"The Gaunt line produced a half-mage half Human named Tom Marvolo Riddle. From the 1970's to the year 1990, Riddle worked towards 'blood purity' and exterminating the so called _muggle infestation_," they could hear her disgust at the word 'muggle'. They all guessed correctly that it meant a normal Human.

"As it was, a self-fulfilling prophecy was made by a mage and over heard by two people: The 'Light Lord', and one of the Dark Lord's servants. The prophecy told of a child, born as the seventh month died, that would cause the eventual downfall of the Dark Lord. The Death Eater – the group of servants of the Dark Lord – only heard part of the prophecy. The other half claimed that the child and Tom could only die at the hand of the other." Jaq's voice was hoarse, being very unused to talking this much, let alone about herself and her story. She, in fact, hated telling anyone about this, but she felt that the Torchwood team deserved to know.

"This child, was you?" Jack asked, an odd, almost defeated, tilt to his posture, eyes, and voice. "It was. So, Tom learned of the prophecy. There were two possible candidates. One was Neville, a boy in my year. The other was myself."

She wiggled her fingers in a parody of a 'hello, here I am', then continued her tale. "I was chosen for a few reasons. First and foremost was that I would also be classified as a 'Half Blood', like him. My parents were, thankfully, killed quickly, painlessly. Neville's own parents were tortured until their minds snapped."

Jaq let them absorb that, remembering visiting Neville's parents with the boy. A glass of water was pushed into her hands. Startled, she looked up at Ianto, who gave her a reassuring – albeit strained – smile. "Tom had done a very foul thing to ensure he was very, very hard to kill. You all know the basic concept of a soul, yes? That it is the essence of a Human, of creatures on Earth?" she asked softly. It tended to be a touchy subject.

Gwen didn't disappoint. "Are you saying aliens don't have souls?" the older woman demanded crossly.

"I'm _saying_ they don't got a bit of Gaea in them that makes them what they are!" Jonquille growled in return. "In any case, Tom decided to play around with soul magic, tearing his soul – very painfully, I might add – into eight bits, creating seven 'Horcruxes', as they're called. What he didn't realize was that with each bit taken and tortured in such a way, his sanity was, too. So, when I was gone, I hunted down his fragmented soul, cleansed them, and sent them back to Gaea, pure as the day they were given.

"It wasn't easy, at all. I ended up having to kill many people, ones who were very . . . bad. Ones that had raped, murdered, and tortured innocents, some for decades. But I did. Some say I fought the War, all by my self, but the Light sided mages assisted in the very last battle." Jaq had a distant tone in her voice and in her eyes.

"And. . . none of this was noticed?" Tosh wondered. Surely someone not involved directly had noticed?

"Not really," the teen explained, shrugging a bit. "Only about twenty Humans died. Compared to the 137 Light side and the 403 dark side mages, vampires, giants, trolls, lycans, et cetera, it's not that much. No offense intended."

"That – . . . How long was that war again?" Jack asked, surprised that it was so low.

"That was only the 'Second Half' casualties," Jaq replied, "From, oh, roughly 2003 to 2007. No one can even begin to guess at the casualties for the First Half. I have been credited with roughly 300 of those dark casualties, though." It was said in a careless manner, but the areas around her eyes and mouth were tight. She didn't like being so. . . Deadly.

"You killed three hundred people? How?" Owen asked, his mouth open wide.

"Some mages have animal forms. I have three, a Phoenix, a raven, and a Basilisk. The Basilisk form is the one I used a lot when fighting against the Hunters sent out by Tom, as a single look would result in being quantum-locked or death. The venom of a Basilisk is also the most deadly I've ever encountered. It can only be neutralized by Phoenix tears, which just results in the dying cells regenerating and dying then regenerating again and again. Eventually the cells adapt to the exposure, but not for quite a few years. Anyway, They now call me the 'Angel of Death'."

She was bitter now, they realized. She was bitter and angry and bleeding on the inside, screaming where no one could hear.

"Do you think it was worth it, Jon?" Gwen asked quietly. She _needed_ to know. Jonquille licked her lips – an odd nervous gesture that she didn't know the origin of – and admitted more of her life. It wasn't a bit that she wanted to, but once the witch began, she couldn't stop.

"I had two godfathers. A sister – three, even. Four brothers. A lover. A father. A pregnant aunt and an unborn niece. All of them are dead. Everyone that was particularly close to me in the mage life is dead. Gone." She looked at them now, trying to press in all she lost. "But – this is important, necessary to remember – if even only _one_ innocent life is saved. . ." her voice slowly quieted, drawing them closer. The next four words were pounded in. "It. _Was. __**Worth. **__**It**_."

Even Jack seemed so surprised by her answer. "We can't save everyone. It's a rare and joyous day when that happens, being able to save everyone. We can – and do – try. I f we can't and only save one. . . It would be worth it." Jaq's words were so matter of fact, so sure and confidant.

The Captain grinned at the young-old woman. "You'd get along very well with a friend of mine, Jackie. Remind me to introduce him sometime."

Jaq smiled back. Her eyes were dark, but they seemed a little brighter. The weight on her shoulders seemed a little bit lighter, as her story enforced beliefs to help make the team better and stronger. For, as she said, saving even one life would make even Hell worth it.

_A/N: Okay, uhm. That's that. I really am considering continuing, but it probably won't be for a while. Suggestions at where to put oneshots as continuations would be welcome (ie: doing the Year that Never Was or involving Jaq somewhere in the Doctor Who Timeline.) Reviews would be very very very nice._

_Mended a few things; fixed paragraph issues, replaced not-right words, punctuation, italics. . . 10-07-12_


End file.
